OPINION: Census data will help community plan for future services

What does theis new Census data tell us? First, they provide more evidence that the Jewish population of this country is growing, or, at the very least, is stable – the simple fact that the number of people self-identifying as Jewish by religion climbed slightly from 259,927 in 2001 to 271,327 in 2021 indicates this.

There are caveats around those figures. Jews are not compelled to answer the religion question – it is voluntary.

Jews who identify as Jewish by ethnicity and not by religion are excluded (there were 8,558 in 2011; we don’t yet know the equivalent figure for 2021); and we don’t yet have counts for Scotland or Northern Ireland, so the counts only apply to England and Wales. But other evidence points to growth at this level too, so the fundamental story rings true.

Nevertheless, the best current estimate for the size of the self-identifying UK Jewish population is 292,000. After proper data processing, that will likely be revised slightly, probably upwards, but not by very much.

But the bigger question is about what is driving the growth? The UK Jewish population declined by a third between 1950 and 2000; how did we stop that? The answer lies partly in census data from Hackney and Salford, and, to a lesser extent, Bury and Barnet, all of which have strong Charedi communities. They are all growing – rapidly – providing the key engine of growth, even as other parts of the Jewish population slowly decline.

Ultimately, the key value of these data lies in community planning. The Census shows us the Jewish population in extraordinary detail, giving community organisations the potential to understand their ‘markets’ in unprecedented ways.

As more data are released, our work will focus on that – using these data to help the community plan for all of our futures.